When he was throwing triple digits last year there were a number of scouts saying that they would tell him to dial it back….the human body was not designed to throw that hard and his apparent attempts to wow people with peak velocity could result in arm troubles.
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I am not saying that is the case, yet, but it isn’t surprising that a very raw prospect with no control who was encouraged to throw AHAP (as hard as possible) and rushed to the majors is having arm problems.
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It seemed obvious last year that the best thing for an unpolished pitcher with his arm would be to learn how to pitch, to work on a free and easy repeatable delivery, and to work on secondary pitches…so that he could be a potentially dominant starter in a couple of years. Instead the gave him no chance to develop his game, reduced his long-term value, and encouraged a course that can only lead to injuries….remember the guys that used to throw 100 mph for the tigers a few year ago? What are those guys doing now, anyway?

Believe it was Joel Zumaya who broke his elbow, something like that, and might have started throwing again. But he’s had plenty of problems, more time in rehab than on the mound. Hey, Dusty Baker, remember Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, et al? Just sayin’.

Agreed…but look at the history of players that regularly hit triple digits…guys that regularly throw this hard don’t have the best track record for long careers.

cintiphil - Apr 15, 2011 at 9:29 AM

Well, we are getting into a little trouble here already. When you watched him pitch closely, it appeared that he looked like he was struggling to throw that hard. Some guys can throw almost without effort, and get up to 95+. I think that was the secret of guys like Johnson and Ryan. Chapman looked like he was throwing 100+, because of the extra effort he put into his pitch. With these young guys, the coach has to tell them to dial it back a bit or this sort of thing can happen. Al of the young guys think they are never going to wear down. Too bad for us now. With the poor performance of the B-P on Wed nite, we are not going in the right direction with this staff. If Massett doesn’t pick it up and show his stuff, our B-P will rate down there with the redbirds. Cordero is getting older and one can not count on him pitching more than one inning just to close. He won’t get many opportunities if our set up guys don’t deliver.

it seems to me like none of you have ever seen him pitch except for maybe once. his delivery is effortless and he’s not even all over the place. i can’t believe that people like to rail on guys who can throw 100+, if i could throw 100+ i’d be throwing as many of those as i possibly could. Plus what did his velocity go down to? average? it’s not like he is injured or anything so you all need to relax.

Sorry to disagree. I have seen him in person OR on T-V including last Wed, virtually every game this year and last. I think he throws too hard and he needs to pace his delivery. If he last more than two innings, he is very hit-able and his velocity goes down just a bit. He is supposed to be a starter, and not a set up man or closer. No one can last long throwing every pitch at 100+ for 6 or 7 innings. He has a great curve and other pitches, however, after two innings, I am not sure if he has any action on the ball or not, but his coaches should know. He can be very effective at 95+ if he can pitch and is not just a thrower. That is all up to the coaching staff. At this point, he is not a Major League pitcher, even though he can THROW the ball though a brick wall.